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For me, it used to mean making an entire pot of tea to myself, walking over to my stack of books, grabbing my favourite throw (and maybe a few cookies) before settling down to read the day away.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh, I’m so sorry. Doesn’t that sound idyllic and wonderful though?

Now, rainy days mean being trapped inside (my inner voice saying “you have no excuse not to do that chore you’ve been putting off!“) with a rambunctious little kid.

So what do I actually do on a rainy day?

Rainy Day Activities

Messy Crafts
It seems counter intuitive to do messy crafts when you can’t make the mess outside (for easier cleanup) but hear me out. If you have a few old sheets or plastic table clothes, the cleanup from your kitchen table shouldn’t be any worse, and afterwards? A nice warm bath! You can even do this with your teeny tiny kids. N enjoyed splashing paint everywhere when she was only a few months old. 😉 Some ideas for babies, little kids, and bigger kids.

Build a Village This was technically a favourite activity of mine and my brother’s on rainy or sick days. It works for any sort of age group, and with any toys (and non toys!) you have. Use your megablocks/legos/to build basic structures or place a shoe-box on it’s side. Use your tiny kids meal toys, stuffed animals, action figures, or even salt and pepper shakers (ours were shaped like cats!). Half the fun is building up the village, the other half is destroying it! (Okay, and it might be fun to actually play with it too)

Forts
I really don’t think this needs to be explained at all but here are a few ideas if you’re looking for inspiration! Here are some easy forts, and sofa fort blueprints, and you can always set up a tent inside. Try using an umbrella, and don’t forget all your stuffed animals, action figures, and of course, some twinkle lights!

Movie Marathon
Pssssst. I have a confession. Sometimes we have rainy movie days. We sit around on our butts for hours, lazing about the couch (sometimes in our forts) cuddled up with blankets and popcorn. I have chronic pain that flares when it’s damp, so occasionally I don’t have the choice in letting myself and my daughter relax on a rainy day. Regardless of your health, there’s no reason to beat yourself up for not doing a ton of crazy activities. Sometimes unwinding is enough. Your kids will be happy to have a happy, chill mama. I promise. Becca wrote a list of rainy day movies, which includes some of my favourites to watch with little ones as well. E.T. anyone?

Video Games
On that similar note, rainy days are the perfect excuse for video games and TV. Especially if you get right in and join your kids! One of my favourite memories is of my mom joining my brother and I to play Need For Speed during a thunderstorm when we thought the power was going to go out any second. Thrilling, exciting, and so fun to have her with us. I can’t wait to be able to teach N how to properly play Sims, or games on the Wii. She already loves taking the xbox remote (and can get to Netflix all by herself, which I’m not sure is a good thing?) so I’m happy to pass our passion right along.

Fun Food
When the weather is wet and cold, I love a good chili or soup to warm me up. Let your little one help in the kitchen! Even if it’s just playing with some of the chopped up veggies or beans 🙂 When they’re old enough, placing things in the pot, and having it be their job to “stir occasionally” is always rewarding. Other fun rainy day foods that your kid will love helping with? Nachos, DIY personal pizzas (even just on naan is always a hit!), fresh baked cookies (I like these healthy ones that my 18 mo helps “stir”!) and air popped popcorn (with way too much butter and a “toppings bar” from my spice cupboard). Never underestimate involving your kid in your “chores”. Being with you and being a part of what you’re doing is often magical to them, and rewarding for us.

Puddle Jumping
If it isn’t pouring or thundering out there, GO GET WET! What else are rain boots good for? I found waterproof pants at Walmart for a steal, and with boots, and a raincoat N is good to splash and race leaves down the driveway till her hearts content (or until I’m too soggy to take it!) There’s a reason I placed this on my Spring To-Do List, it’s a favourite family activity! Plus, similar to making a big mess in the kitchen, afterwards there’s nothing like a warm bath. Maybe followed by a movie, watched with some popcorn in your fort?

I hope these inspired you to enjoy your next rainy day. Here’s to making the most of it!

I love the rain. I would honestly move to England or Seattle just for their weather! And there’s nothing quite like raindrops beating against the windows and thunder in the distance to set the scene for a comfy, cozy movie night in!

With the buckets of rain that have been coming down lately, I thought it would be perfect timing for a rainy day movie marathon!

Jumanji: I think a lot of us can say we spent some great inclement weather days either watching Jumanji during indoor recess at school, or cuddled up with mom on the couch. Sometimes a great movie brings just as much adventure to the screen as you would have if you were playing outside.

You’re not all that unfamiliar. I remember being in high school trying to write and not being able to get the words out, rolling my eyes and scratching out words so hard I ripped the page because nothing was right. Needing to get them to bring to band practice, to get edited by a boyfriend before a coffee house, there was a sense of urgency to complete my thoughts. Later too, in college, trying to get that great idea out on paper, put my thoughts into words with a deadline looming.

But what if there is no deadline? What if there is no set topic? What on earth am I even blocked from writing about? Writing for?

When I took away these things and really thought about it, I finally realised what my personal writer’s block has always come from.

I don’t have confidence in my own voice.

Why would anyone want to listen to what I have to say?

What makes me an expert, or even someone worth acknowledging, about anything at all?

Out of the blog posts I have written the ones that seem to get the most reads are those that peer into my personal life. Things focusing on my feelings. My feelings. Hunh. How about that?

So I need to get over myself and not take things so seriously. Write what I know, or at least what I pretend to, and that would be the inner dialogue running ramped in my head.

Alright! I can do that!

But wait!

It’s scary! I know that there are consequences of voicing an opinion online, where it can be subject to criticism I have no way of defending myself. I know that future employers will be able to see my opinions and make judgements based off that before interviewing me. I know that it will affect future clients, and even possibly could be manipulated to be used against me for a variety of other personal things. Not to mention the complete unknown future of the internet and how that will affect my daughter (or future children).

I’ve set boundaries. I will voice my opinion and discuss my life, but not my family, my significant other, or children directly. My feelings on motherhood are a journey all my own. Just as I may share a child, but the pregnancy was my own. I feel that motherhood, and all it encompasses, are mine to own and share.

OKAY COOL. I’ve got it sorted. Believe in yourself and write whatever you can, but make sure you stick to your boundaries.

WHOOPS ONE MORE THING

How do I justify taking that time away from the trillion other things I have to do? I mean, there are currently some pencil crayons on the ground that I really have no excuse to not have picked up before writing this. Some laundry I could be folding! Pre-making food for when I have a suddenly awake and starving little girl downstairs!

I don’t have to justify self-care. This is my self-care. Writing and taking a moment to have an identity outside of being a mother. That is a whole post unto itself, and a whole journey to struggle through. But I will prioritise this fun and relieving hobby to make sure I don’t lose myself.

So share I will. I look forward to babbling a lot more soon. But I am also not going to beat myself up if I need to disappear. Luckily and happily I have the lovely Becca co-writing with me, sharing both our fun shared events, and her life as well.

Last weekend Kris and I got to check out the local theater scene by seeing a version of Legally Blonde: The Musical! (And of course we dressed to theme!)

I’ve been dying to see this show for years and though I never got the chance to see it while it was playing in bigger city theaters, local theater came to my rescue and put on the show in my city!

Some of you may remember that cheesy MTV show a few years back called Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for the Next Elle Woods. It was a competition show where they looked for the girl who would play Elle Woods on Broadway next. This show aired in 2008 and that’s how long I’ve been waiting to see Legally Blonde: The Musical. So honestly, thank you local theater for making this little dream of mine come true! lol

They did a really great job and the music was everything that i’d hopped it would be!

In honor of Legally Blonde and local theater I wanted to do a list of my favorite musicals. I’ve always been a musical lover, so this post has been a lot of fun for me to put together!

The is my number-one-all-time-perfection musical. It’s about the story of two 20 somethings. The whole show goes through the beginning of their relationship and how they fell in love, to the end of their relationship and how it became a mess. The story is moving, the music is flawless, and the movie version’s actors are so perfect! It’ll make you feel happy, sad, angry, and excited. I have the soundtrack playing in my car on repeat!

I’m sure no one really needs an introduction to La La Land, but just in case: It’s about two people who are struggling with making their dreams a reality, and the journey they have together.

There was so much hype over this movie and the first time I saw the trailer, months before the movie came out, it gave me chills. I ended up seeing it twice in theaters because i literally needed to see it again! lol It made me want to be more creative, find my passions, live more in the moment. It actually kicked my butt into gear with both writing more for the blog and finally starting the online design program that I’d been putting off for months.

An absolute classic, Annie is the story of a young orphan in New York City. Because of the many movie remakes and stage revivals, it’s become so nostalgic for so many generations. I grew up with the 1999 movie version, so that’ll always be my favorite. I remember watching this version on VHS over and over again as a child. The story is heart warming and the music is so catchy!

Of all of the musicals on this list, this is the one I most want to see live, hopefully one day I’ll get that chance. It’s the tales of Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stock, Little Red Riding hood and Rapunzel all intertwined into one story.

I only recently watched Into the Woods (it’s on Netflix, go watch it!) and I was blown away. It was so hyped, so I was nervous it wouldn’t live up, but it exceeded my expectations! This may be the best music and lyric writing in a musical that I’ve ever gotten the pleasure of listening to, and it’s a must see!

Favorite Song: Your Fault (This is a perfect example of the fantastic music and lyrics in this show.)

Les Mis– Les Mis is amazing, but it’s one of those movies you really have to be in the mood for. It’s long and very intense. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and moving and emotional, but it’s… a lot.

Wicked – Wicked has become a classic! I got to see it at a huge, beautiful, old theater and it was great! They finally confirmed the movie adaptation in 2019 and I am so excited for it!

We Will Rock You – I went to go see We Will Rock You on a school trip, in elementary school. It was responsible for getting my whole 8th grade class into the music of Queen that year. lol Fun fact: This was actually the first musical that I ever saw live!

Mamma Mia – I really don’t think i need to explain Mamma Mia at all. And again, it was responsible for getting me into classic, disco ABBA music!

* Disclaimer – all of the links and posters provided are of the movie version, not the stage version. I’ve only been lucky enough to see a handful of these shows live on stage. Though hopefully one day I’ll have seen them all, for now I used the movies as a reference, just to keep things uniform and recognizable.

WordPress is updating, so I started typing this post in a sticky note. The intro to which I had been speculating would be something cute about how I’m not even sure if my baby monitor was going to die while I tried to write this, as I haven’t used it in two days. It’s been chaos and sickness and we haven’t had normal nap times or bed times or adult alone time in a while. (I just wanna write a blog post and play some sims, okay?)

Guess what? It died. That, in summary, is how things have been going lately.

April is normally the time I refresh. It’s never January. I read a study once upon a time (that was reiterated in a mental health seminar) that the idea of starting anew and trying to set goals mid-winter is very unrealistic. That’s actually the time to splurge, spoil yourself, and spend as much time with loved ones and doing fun things as possible. Because getting to the end of winter is HARD. Post-holiday happiness is HARD. Suddenly losing the prettiness of twinkly lights all around your home is HARD. (Okay, that last one might just be me.) So make yourself feel better! Start fresh when the world does, in Spring!

April is my GET THINGS GOING time. I have fresh bursts of energy, and I’m usually no longer in immense pain because the weather has warmed up. I had plans to start painting the house now that we can open the windows! I have birthday parties to plan! Easter is here! But alas, we’ve all been insanely sick, and when A works 28 days straight, that means so do I.

But, I’m on the mend! I have lots of exciting things coming up, including being back to posting about my life endlessly. Here’s my vague list of Spring/Summer Projects 2017. Maybe these will inspire you to start something new this spring.

Getting to ask our wedding party to actually be our wedding party was such a fun part of this process for me! I spent a lot of time googling and thinking about how i wanted to ask them.

When it came down to it, my inspiration came from a bit of online shopping! When i was browsing a store online i came across these dainty, sweet little bracelets that were in the shape of knots. The symbolism was perfect and i decided to make the purchase! One for each of our moms and one for each bridesmaid. The “asking the brides maids” theme ended up being “will you help me tie the knot?”

For each bridesmaid i wrote a personal letter, which for obvious reasons, i’ll keep private. I just talked a bit about our friendship and why i’m so proud to have them in my wedding party. I also wrote a longer letter and gave a copy of that to everyone. In the longer letter I outlined things like the planning process and the fun things coming up (bachelorette party – whoop!)

Lastly I made a little cover page for each of the girls. It was a simple sign actually asking them the “big” question!

After everyone in the Bridal party had agreed to be a part of it i got to make a Facebook group for us, which is so fun to me! I love to have a place where we can all post our ideas and communicate with each other all at once. I even made a cute little header for the group, posted below!

After all is said and done, I’m so happy with how my “bridesmaids proposal” turned out, and I’m so excited to have these amazing girls in my wedding party. My sister Laura, Ryan’s sisters Shannon and Danah and my girlfriends Danielle, Kris and Kristin are going to be amazing bridesmaids and i cant wait to really get into the wedding festivities!

Three months after we got engaged we finally had our engagement party and it was so much fun! A small group of our close friends and our siblings came together to celebrate with us and I’m so grateful! We played the “Soon to be Newly Wed Game” (hosted by Kris) and “Who knows the Bride and Groom Best?” (Hosted by Ryan’s sister Danah) and it was such a good time!

I started off my two years of “bridal-ness” by wearing all white for the occasion! Which i quickly split a red jello shot on, so i ended up changing into legging approximately 2 hours into the party…lol But at least i got a few pictures of my outfit before i ruined it!

A couple of thank yous to hand out – my lovely friend Corri was kind enough to take some pictures for us, so thank you so much! And to Kris as well, for helping with the set up and printing a fun little poster for us!

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Hi! We are Becca & Kris. Beckraa is a lifestyle blog about our foray into new home ownership, fun fashion, and hobbies and happenings along the way. Hopefully you can find something that sticks with you and come along for the ride!
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